I was searching for some new SF / action films and I discovered Kill Command after I saw the poster with the giant robotic machine on it. I wasn't swayed away that much, but I kind of liked the design. So, I decided - let's check this one out. And I was not disappointed.
The plot is pretty simple. It is set in the near future, the team of marines are assigned to go in training facility for two days to test the latest robots for practice. However, things go bad when they discover that machines started to develop and upgrade themselves. So, it is a pretty typical cliché story. Some people say that this film is reminiscent of "Terminator", "Predator" etc. Me, personally, I think it is more close to "Screamers", because the plot is almost the same. About machines that built and upgrade themselves. Through the movie, there isn't too many exciting scenes, it is a generic stuff of human soldier VS machines.
The movie is directed and written by Steven Gomez. Gomez has worked on visual effects on at least dozen films, so this is his debut as a writer/director. Which explains this film's very solid CGI. But, about that later. I think that Gomez directed and wrote this film fairly, but I think he has to learn more on how to develop characters more and to make them more deep, interesting and likeable. Which brings me to characters. I think they are the weak point of the film. The characters are pretty much generic. They are really not that likeable or relating. The team of marines is led by Cpt. Bukes, played by Thure Lindhardt. Thure seems like a competent actor, but flat in his performance. I think that his character was weak. He starts off as an off-beat guy who does not like machines or AI and he automatically has a dislike towards one of the temporary members of the team. And afterwards, because of the obvious circumstances and plot he decreases his dislike just to survive. OK, fair enough. So, the disliked, temporary team member is Mills. She is an advanced cyborg, or android. She is played by Vanessa Kirby, I think she done well playing a cyborg. And that's about it, there isn't much to her character. The other ones are nothing special, but I must say that Drifter (David Ajala) is pretty much likeable of the bunch... however as the movie progresses, he did not leave some certain impression. Which brings me back to Gomez, who I think still needs to mature in writing interesting characters.
So, let's discuss other things. Music score was nothing special, or memorable. Editing was decent. Action scenes were solid, but not that quite intense. Now, scenery was really good. At least 60 percent of film is occurring in the woods. I think that was because of the budget. However, I think that shots of the woods were well used. Now, CGI is good in most of scenes and I highly appreciate the usage of practical effects. Now, the best thing - production design. The costumes are OK, they look like today's marine uniform with some modifications, I think that the budget did not allow to create something more slicker. The same things goes for weapons, I think the weapons could have been a touch better. The interior and exterior design is just great and to mention the design of robots. It think it's amazing. With high detail and really cool looking parts. So, these robots are used for training in the film, but they managed to give robots this sophisticated looks. Non-threating in a way, but still nice looking.
So, overall this is one pretty interesting-looking B film. I highly recommend this film to people who enjoy watching something simple and enjoyable, with robots and soldiers. I am hoping that the actors and the director Gomez will have more offers and jobs to prove their talents, I would truly like to see their further progress. And to tell you the truth, I enjoyed this film more than some certain BIGGER SF films which came out during 2016-2018. Enjoy this pleasurable little SF film.
The plot is pretty simple. It is set in the near future, the team of marines are assigned to go in training facility for two days to test the latest robots for practice. However, things go bad when they discover that machines started to develop and upgrade themselves. So, it is a pretty typical cliché story. Some people say that this film is reminiscent of "Terminator", "Predator" etc. Me, personally, I think it is more close to "Screamers", because the plot is almost the same. About machines that built and upgrade themselves. Through the movie, there isn't too many exciting scenes, it is a generic stuff of human soldier VS machines.
The movie is directed and written by Steven Gomez. Gomez has worked on visual effects on at least dozen films, so this is his debut as a writer/director. Which explains this film's very solid CGI. But, about that later. I think that Gomez directed and wrote this film fairly, but I think he has to learn more on how to develop characters more and to make them more deep, interesting and likeable. Which brings me to characters. I think they are the weak point of the film. The characters are pretty much generic. They are really not that likeable or relating. The team of marines is led by Cpt. Bukes, played by Thure Lindhardt. Thure seems like a competent actor, but flat in his performance. I think that his character was weak. He starts off as an off-beat guy who does not like machines or AI and he automatically has a dislike towards one of the temporary members of the team. And afterwards, because of the obvious circumstances and plot he decreases his dislike just to survive. OK, fair enough. So, the disliked, temporary team member is Mills. She is an advanced cyborg, or android. She is played by Vanessa Kirby, I think she done well playing a cyborg. And that's about it, there isn't much to her character. The other ones are nothing special, but I must say that Drifter (David Ajala) is pretty much likeable of the bunch... however as the movie progresses, he did not leave some certain impression. Which brings me back to Gomez, who I think still needs to mature in writing interesting characters.
So, let's discuss other things. Music score was nothing special, or memorable. Editing was decent. Action scenes were solid, but not that quite intense. Now, scenery was really good. At least 60 percent of film is occurring in the woods. I think that was because of the budget. However, I think that shots of the woods were well used. Now, CGI is good in most of scenes and I highly appreciate the usage of practical effects. Now, the best thing - production design. The costumes are OK, they look like today's marine uniform with some modifications, I think that the budget did not allow to create something more slicker. The same things goes for weapons, I think the weapons could have been a touch better. The interior and exterior design is just great and to mention the design of robots. It think it's amazing. With high detail and really cool looking parts. So, these robots are used for training in the film, but they managed to give robots this sophisticated looks. Non-threating in a way, but still nice looking.
So, overall this is one pretty interesting-looking B film. I highly recommend this film to people who enjoy watching something simple and enjoyable, with robots and soldiers. I am hoping that the actors and the director Gomez will have more offers and jobs to prove their talents, I would truly like to see their further progress. And to tell you the truth, I enjoyed this film more than some certain BIGGER SF films which came out during 2016-2018. Enjoy this pleasurable little SF film.